[Jennywa]

Hi Everyone, I'm considering gettting some chickens for my backyard. It is quite small, only about 3 metres by * metres and it is enclosed to allow my cats to be safe. Is this big enough for hens? How many could I have and will the cats eat them?

[joyfull]

hello and welcome, I'll just pop this over to the hen house where you may get some help 

[freebirdy]

Hi and welcome! 
I've got 9 Polled bantams running around my garden and have a huge tom cat who completely ignores all the birds! It's seems most cats seem to realise that chooks are out of bounds as prey! If you're thinking of getting large fowl there shouldn't be a problem as the chooks are more than capable of fending off a domestic moggy as most of them are bigger than a cat!! My birds are very small, even my rooster only weighs 1.5kg and my hens average 750g!! The cat just gives them a very wide berth!! 
The other weekend I saw one of the funniest things since I got my chooks, the cat who weighs about 5.5kg, wandered through the yard making his way up the garden and my smallest hen (540g) was in hot pursute of moggy, squarking and making a right old fuss, she was trying to attack him! 
Murphy legged it up the garden and out of pecking range with little Patsy still giving it large at the top of the garden because she couldn't get to him! She stood guard at the bottom of the fence for ages, flapping about, being noisy and being a right hooligan! Poor Murphy was terrified!!!!! 
It's not uncommon for me to find Murphy IN the hen house, usually snuggled up in a nest box snoozing away. Murphy is by no means a "softie" cat, he's had a run in with a fox this year and only a few weeks back took on a huge dog! (costs me a fortune in vets bills for stitches!  ) but he has never so much as even had a swipe at the chooks. It's as if he knows they're not to be touched!

[Jennywa]

I don't think the cats will be a problem, I'm now worried about the amount of space I need. How big a hen house do I need for 2-3 hens?

[Sassy]

As long as you get point of lay chooks they should be ok with the cat but do keep an eye open to start with. A cat would be attracted by chicks!!  :blink: :blink:

Would recommend you get minimum of 3 chooks then on the off chance you should lose one you will not be left with one on its own.

[stan deakin]

yes should be ok i would get bantams as they are small and dont need much room at all go a head and get a few , its a great hobby 

[sneezer]

With cats it depends on them individually, my neighbour has 9 and they keep a wide berth of the girls however there is a rogue cat which was within 2 feet of attacking them luckily I heard a strange alarm call and could chase the cat away.With space the run area should be at least 2 meters square for each bird, the coop itself as long as they can perch they will be fine. Def go for it they are lovely pets!!

[markosborn1]

Your cat should take no notice at all, if anything the chickens would probable chase him/her off. Contact the British Hen welfare trust www.bhwt.org.uk. You could help re-home some ex-bats then.

[joyfull]

ex batts aren't for everybody as they can often require more medical treatment.
For a first time chicken keeper perhaps you ought to think about point of lay hybrids